ATLANTA ART FAIR: An art gathering of a different kind

Pullman Yards to host the four-day event

JPope 3 Chithlanville Jill Pope
Photo credit: JILL POPE
CHITHLANVILLE BY JILL POPE: 2023, Collaged maps and oil on wood panel, 30 x 30 inches.
By CL Staff Wednesday October 2, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

Timed to take place during the third edition of Atlanta Art Week, the inaugural Atlanta Art Fair will be presented Thursday, Oct. 3, through Sunday, Oct 6, at Pullman Yards. Self-described as “the first global art fair for one of the fastest growing art hubs in the United States,” the event is under the direction of Kelly Freeman, Director of Art Market Productions (AMP), in collaboration with Intersect Art and Design.

According to a press release, “Working in close consultation with local stakeholders, the inaugural Atlanta Art Fair promises to be a catalyst for cultural enrichment and artistic exchange, enhancing the city’s existing community of artists, galleries, institutions, and collectors.” The hype sheet continues, “Creating a new meeting point for contemporary art deep in the American South, the vision of Atlanta Art Fair is to nurture an inclusive platform that aims to empower the local community by showcasing its unique history, providing an important commercial platform to support the city’s art ecosystem, and connecting Atlanta to audiences regionally, nationally, and internationally,” noting that “Atlanta Art Fair will be a regionally driven show, built for and supported by the broader region. Featuring exhibitor booths, extensive public programming and large-scale projects organized by artistic director Nato Thompson in partnership with local curators … will partner with over 30 institutions.

“The High Museum of Art has joined Atlanta Art Fair as Lead Institutional Partner. In addition, Atlanta Art Fair’s Artistic Director Nato Thompson will be joined by Atlanta-based guest curators Lauren Jackson Harris and Karen Comer Lowe. Both women are firmly embedded within the Atlanta art scene and have long histories of championing underrepresented voices in the arts. Harris, an independent curator and creative director from Atlanta, co-founded Black Women in Visual Art, which connects, cultivates, and serves Black women arts professionals. Lowe held curatorial and educational positions at top institutions nationwide, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, before her appointment as Curator in Residence at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in 2022. During Atlanta Art Fair, Harris will curate a group exhibition of five rising Georgia-based artists. Lowe’s presentation will highlight two internationally renowned Atlanta-based artists––Navin Norling and Pam Longobardi––who specialize in creating art from found objects.

“The fair’s core programs will include dedicated booths for select cultural partners, including Art Papers, Atlanta History Center, Dashboard Co-op, Spruill Center for the Arts, Millenium Gate Museum Atlanta, and more.

“The debut Atlanta Art Fair will showcase artworks by over 100 artists, and around 60 exhibitors, including: Alan Avery Art Company, Day & Night Projects, Dunwoody Gallery, Fay Gold Gallery, Gallery Anderson Smith, Hawkins Headquarters, Jackson Fine Art, Johnson Lowe Gallery, Marcia Wood Gallery, Maune Contemporary, The Object Space, Poem 88, Sandler Hudson Gallery, Spalding Nix Fine Art, and Whitespace.

The cultural partner booths at Atlanta Art Fair will offer a rich array of local and regional art experiences. Art Papers will present a curated archival retrospective highlighting their 48-year history and editorial impact, featuring rare issues, limited-edition prints, and special projects by Atlanta-based artists. Dashboard Co-Op showcases a multimedia exhibition exploring Atlanta’s dynamic evolution, while Spruill Center for the Arts invites attendees to engage with small works by contemporary Atlanta artists. The Millennium Gate Museum will feature PORTALS, an installation by local artist Pilar that blends technology and nature. Georgia Tech highlights its intersection of art and technology, featuring three artists and promoting campus art initiatives. The Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art will promote their Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation exhibition. Students from Georgia State University’s Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design have designed an inter-disciplinary and multi-media booth highlighting the careers and art of faculty. Cleo The Project Space celebrates its four years of programming with a curated selection of past works and a limited-edition print giveaway.

Large-scale sculptures and immersive installations will also be on view throughout Pullman Yards’ Porter Hall as part of the public programming, including Far From Endless (2023), a sculpture by Lloyd Benjamin, presented by Wolfgang Gallery; Myzot Litischa (2014) by Venske & Spänle, presented by Marcia Wood Gallery; Their tears now yours washing over where it aches (2024) by Gyun Hur, presented by Flux Projects; Unbroken Connections (1985, 1986) by Curtis Patterson, presented by Laney Contemporary; As a Revelation, Time Presents Itself (2020) by Sergio Suárez, presented by Johnson Lowe Gallery; Plastic Bodies (2003, 2007) by Sheila Pree Bright; and THE MANY WORLDS (2023) by Jeffrey Gibson, presented by ICA San Francisco and Sikkema Jenkins & Co. Patterns of Place. An installation in the Atlanta Art Fair Theater by Atlanta Contemporary’s Studio Artist Program will bring together a collection of artists whose diverse practices reflect the nexus of place—not merely as a physical location, but as a complex web of narratives, histories, and emotional landscapes.

For the fair’s onsite print publication, Atlanta Art Fair has partnered with Burnaway, an Atlanta- based digital magazine of contemporary art and criticism from the American South. Featuring existing archival content, capsule reviews and new editorial from writers based in Atlanta and across the South, the publication will be distributed at the fair, participating Atlanta galleries and at Hotel Clermont, Atlanta Art Fair’s official hotel partner.

Strong representation from across the region will include exhibitors from Alabama (Scott Miller Projects, Birmingham); Florida (Fotovat Atelier, Fort Lauderdale, and Steidel Contemporary, Lake Worth); North Carolina (Lucky Fish Gallery, Greensboro); Tennessee (Urevbu Contemporary and Sheet Cake Gallery, Memphis, ZIEHERSMITH and Modfellows Art Gallery, Nashville); and Texas (Mitochondria Gallery, Houston). Mainstream art hubs will also be represented by galleries such as Luis De Jesus and Residency Art Gallery from Los Angeles, Aspen’s Casterline|Goodman Gallery, New York’s M. David & Co. and Spanierman Modern, as well as international galleries (Gallery Tableau, South Korea; Galeria Baobab, Colombia; Makasiini Contemporary, Finland; Spence Gallery, Canada; and Stoney Road Press, Ireland).

Thursday, October 3

6:15-7:15 PM — Atlanta’s Cultural Renaissance, moderated by Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, with voices from across music, sports, film and fashion Atlanta Art Fair Theater

Friday, October 4

12–1 PM — Design in the American South, Moderated by William Hanley, Dwell Magazine, Atlanta Art Fair Theater

2–3 PM — Art in Action: Navigating Identity, Culture, and Environmental Crisis, Moderated by Karen Comer Lowe, Atlanta Art Fair Theater

4–5 PM — Collecting in the American South, Moderated by Carlie Porterfield, The Art Newspaper, Atlanta Art Fair Theater

Saturday, October 5

12–1 PM — New South: Contemporary Perspectives in Lens-Based Media from the American South, Presented by Atlanta Center for Photography, Atlanta Art Fair Theater

1–1:45 PM — Book Signing: New South

4–5 PM — Preserving Artists’ Legacies Moderated by Karen Comer Lowe,  Atlanta Art Fair Theater

Sunday, October 6

12–1 PM — Being a Southern Artist, Moderated by Lauren Jackson Harris, Atlanta Art Fair Theater

2–3 PM — ALT ATL: Artist-Run Spaces and Experimental Projects, Presented by Art Papers, Atlanta Art Fair Theater

4–5 PM — In Conversation: Cosmo Whyte and Fahamu Pecou, Presented by Johnson Lowe Gallery, Atlanta Art Fair Theater

2024 Cultural Partners
African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta; Art on the Atlanta Beltline; Art Papers; ArtTable; Association of Women Art Dealers (AWAD); Atlanta Ballet; Atlanta Center for Photography; Atlanta Contemporary; Atlanta Design Festival; Atlanta History Center; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art at Kennesaw State University; Black Women in Visual Art; Center for Puppetry Arts; Clark Atlanta University Art Museum; Cleo the Project Space; Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta; Dashboard; Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design; Flux Projects; Georgia Institute of Technology; Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston; Hambidge; Hammonds House Museum; High Museum of Art; Hunter Museum of American Art; Living Walls; Mildred Thompson Legacy Project; Millennium Gate Museum; MINT; Murphy Rail Studios; National Black Arts Festival; Spelman College Museum; Spruill Center for the Arts; Temporary Art Center (TAC); The Art Section: An Online Journal of Art and Culture; The Bakery Atlanta; The Bo Bartlett Center; The Goat Farm; The Lamar Dodd School of Art; The Woodruff Arts Center. —CL—

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